Lady Gaga felt "very uncomfortable" when she was asked to pay tribute to David Bowie at this year's Grammy Awards, because she thought it was too soon after the singer's death.

Lady Gaga was "hurt" when David Bowie's son criticised her tribute to the late singer at this year's Grammy Awards.

The 30-year-old singer took to the stage in front of a star-studded audience at the annual ceremony in February (16) to honour Bowie, who died in January aged 69 after a short battle with cancer.

Joined by Nile Rodgers, Gaga performed a selection of Bowie's greatest hits including Heroes, Rebel, Rebel and Space Oddity. However, following her rendition at the awards, Bowie's son Duncan Jones took to Twitter to make a thinly-veiled reference to the tribute, writing: "Overexcited or irrational, typically as a result of infatuation or excessive enthusiasm; mentally confused." Damn it! What IS that word!?"

Fans were quick to point out that his message was the dictionary definition of the word "Gaga".

Now Gaga has spoken about how she felt when she read the criticism, explaining to Britain's NME magazine: "It did hurt. But what are you going to do? I can’t… it’s his father, you know. Whatever he was feeling in that moment I have compassion and love for him. But yes, of course it hurt.

"I still have to trust and believe in myself as a Bowie fan. I’m not his family, and the thing is, that’s his father. His father is not David Bowie, his father is David Jones. I’m sure that was difficult to watch and of course, I called many people on David’s team before I even begun doing that project and it’s unfortunate, what can I say? But God bless him, you know?"

The Grammys were held just a month after Bowie's tragic and shocking passing. And it was the timing of the ceremony that first raised alarms with Gaga, with the singer admitting: "I really did not want to do it when they first called me because it was so soon after and I felt very uncomfortable.

"I did my very best to put together something that I hoped would be the showstopper of the night. All I wanted was for when the Grammys were over, for people to talk of nothing but David Bowie, and I think I achieved that."

Gaga has long drawn comparisons to Bowie, from the very beginning of her career. However, she admits in the interview that she doesn't think of herself in the same league as the legendary star.

"I don’t know why people compare me to David Bowie, because there will never be another David Bowie and I don’t think anyone is comparable to him," she said.

"Maybe because I stole his lightning bolt for my first video, but it was an homage to my greatest inspiration. I don’t know, it makes me uncomfortable, I should say – I just want to be me."